(NaturalNews) Recent statements made by U.K. Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Jim Paice seem to suggest that Britons may soon be eating cloned milk and meat -- and they most likely will not even be aware of it. If Paice's suggestion that "there should be no restrictions on the use of offspring of cloned animals (for food)" is any indicator of U.K. food policy direction, cloned animal products could soon show up unlabeled on grocery store shelves.

Current U.K. law is dubious on the issue of cloned food products, saying that a "novel food" application is required for approval, while also insisting that cloned food is no different from natural food. But the rules do not specifically state the the offspring of cloned animals require novel food approval. And Paice's statement, which also supports the view of the European Commission on the issue, emphasizes support for the free sale of products derived from cloned animal offspring.

Opponents of cloned animals insist that not only is cloning a form of animal abuse, but cloned animal meat and milk, including that of cloned offspring, has never been proven safe for human consumption. Paice's suggestion that food derived from the offspring of cloned animals is the same as that of natural animals suggests utter incompetency at best, and sinister malfeasance at worst.

Last August, the U.K. Food Standards Agency announced that cloned animal meat had already entered the food supply. A U.K. farmer bred bulls from cloned embryos he purchased from the U.S., and sold the meat at British butcher shops (http://www.naturalnews.com/029411_cloned_bee...).

And the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated in 2009 that cloned animal products from cows, pigs, goats, and sheep, may have entered the food supply at that time as well (http://www.naturalnews.com/025467_food_FDA_m...). While many major U.S. food companies have voluntarily promised not to use cloned meat in their products, the FDA decided in 2008 to approve cloned meat for the food market, and at the same time did not establish any labeling requirements for cloned food products.